Microsoft's Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone, talks about the competition. "With iPhone, I sense that it's running out of steam. With iOS, [Apple] just added a fifth row of icons. Android is... kind of a mess. Look at Samsung - there's clearly mutiny going on. The only OEM making money off of Android is Samsung." There's truth to all these statements, which makes it all the more surprising that Microsoft appears to be unable to properly capitalise on them. Sure, WP appears to be doing well in a few select markets, but by no means the kind of success Microsoft and (Nokia) was banking on. Microsoft will pull through. Nokia on the other hand...

Hint: They're are zero final judgements, and all settlements are sealed. There's zero evidence that anyone is actually paying Microsoft anything for using Android despite settling with them, only what Microsoft claims as the other side tends not say anything.

This is misleading. Microsoft makes bank off of almost every Android device manufactured by a major OEM and now recently even another ODM with Foxconn.

Nokia is looking to severely unload on Android with VP8 patents, the really hard to design around, non FRAND, very powerful types.

Its again, misleading to suggest that because the extremely lengthy legal process has not been completely exhausted, that the judgements up to this point in time are invalid on those merits alone.

Samsung has been found to infringe on Apple's patents. The case is on appeal, but they have been found to infringe. You don't call a convicted murderer innocent because he hasnt exhausted the decades of appeals he's entitled to.

Hint: The legal system is painfully slow.

What you should instead consider are the relatives strengths and weaknesses of the cases at hand. That to me is a much more accurate representation of Android's situation.

When looked at from this point of view, its easy to find various instances of dangerous situations for Android. Apple still has pending litigation in multiple countries that are all still very dangerous.

Oracle likely has a stronger case still than people consider. The Judge's ruling in its case really was odd and unprecedented if you look at past case law, and Android could still be found to be in the wrong there.

I mentioned Nokia with their VP8 patents, but there's also HTC who routinely gets smacked around for various patents by various individuals.

Microsoft has again signed up a large majority of these OEMs for a reason. The likes of Samsung doesn't go into a contract with Microsoft lightly, considering they didn't take a license for Apple on what are probably more favorable terms, the fact that they took one from Microsoft is telling.

There is an incredible amount of legal uncertainty surrounding Android, and trying to equate it with a platform like Windows Phone, where OEMs are idemnified is wrong.